Denominations or Denominationless?

[MSPatton]

As most know I have been a little part of bringing two custom Chipco
sets to lots of folks here. The Suits with great art and no demoninations
and The Egyptians with great art and traditional denominations.

So here is a hypothetical......

You enter a sweepstakes and win. The prize is a set of 500
True Clay Casino Chips, lets say made by Pokerchips.com.
Here is the question..You have two sets to choose from. They
are identically matched sets except one of them has the demon's
on them and the other does not have the denom's.
The colors, graphics, and quantities are all the same just the
denominations have been removed.

Which do you choose?

[mmbt0ne]

I think with denominations. The suits were a rare chip that I though looked great plain, but would've been absolutely horrendous with any other writing on it. Most chipco chips I've seen are made so that the design includes the denomination and they look great.

There would probably be better results if you gave us an idea of what the chip would look like. A simpler chip, like the suits, I wouldn't want a denomination. But most chips need denominations to look right I think.

[Mojo Tooth]

My preference would be, in order of most preferred to least:

- no denominations
- denominations without currency symbol ($)
- denominations with $


Leaving off the denoms allows so much more flexibility in my tourneys and home games. I can switch what color is worth what based on my chip inventory and the number of players attending, and what I deem to be convenient sizes for stacks.

I can even use chips as non-money symbols. For instance, in my tourneys, each buyin comes with a green chip that you can't bet but must be given to the person that busts you. At the end of the tourney, each "bounty" chip is worth a couple bucks to the person that holds them.

With denoms, these things are still all possible but are vastly more confusing.

If I did have denoms, at least if the dollar sign was missing I could use the same chips for home game and tourneys without the icky feeling of using twenty-five dollar chips as quarters or vice versa.

[Wooderson]

I prefer denominations withour currency symbol, then denominationless, then denom. with currency symbol.

The thing I like about denoms without currency symbol is that I play with a few people that don't speak english, but we all know what the 100 or 25 mean. Although I do really like the flexibility of denominationless chips, there is just something i like about seeing the number on there.

[CaptLego]

Tough call. Although I think the ideal is to have denominations, I ended up voting for no denominations. Here's why:

My current chips have denominations on them. On occasion, we've had to use them for different values than the one printed on them. It works OK, but isn't ideal. Denominations suck if they aren't the correct value for the chip.

I just ordered a bunch (1890) of the Egyptian chips. One reason I ordered so many is because I want the flexibility for a variety of cash and tournament games, and want to play the values printed on the chips. 500 chips with denominations aren't enough to provide that flexibility.

The main reason I voted for no denominations, though, is that there are already lots of good chipsets with denominations. But good clay chips with great graphics and no denominations --- are there any available?

[rlpsjstyle]

I'd prefer without denominations for the flexibility reasons. In the 6 or so home games I've hosted, the chips have never all been worth the same amount.

ITA

[TabascoJRC]

Well obviously I like no denoms, hence the suits design. But the design of the chips is important too. For clay chips it is a tough one getting the inlay to look right without a denom. Just taking the denoms off can really change the look of a design. Would have to see them first [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Fins]

I'm a minority!! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I like denominations... they just say gambling to me. I can see the "icky" feeling of using $25 as 25¢ but it just doesn't bother me. They'll never be used in a game where they'd be confused for one another. What would bother me is the "now what are the reds again... $500... ok... and the blues?" And though it's not that big a deal it'd be subtly irritating to use reds as $1, , greens as $5, blacks as $25 etc...

How do you non-denom guys use your chips where having denoms is more confusing then remembering what colors worth what? Maybe some examples (that folks actually use regularly) would sway my opinion.

I do like the idea of having denoms on 4-5 chips & 1-2 chips without for the flexibility so my custom 500 set might be 4 & 1.

Who knows if I add more chips maybe I'll do a non-denom though I'd probably opt for a 25¢ chip first so folks wouldn't feel icky

- Fins

[warewulf]

If you only have one set of chips, w/o denoms would be ideal for flexibility. Now that I have the suits, I want my next set to have denoms. It is much harder buying chips w/ denoms though because you have to figure out what game they will be used in so you can get the right amounts. As someone already said, if you're only buying 500 denom chips, you're not going to have a lot of flex.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a minority!! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I like denominations... they just say gambling to me. I can see the "icky" feeling of using $25 as 25¢ but it just doesn't bother me. They'll never be used in a game where they'd be confused for one another. What would bother me is the "now what are the reds again... $500... ok... and the blues?" And though it's not that big a deal it'd be subtly irritating to use reds as $1, , greens as $5, blacks as $25 etc...

How do you non-denom guys use your chips where having denoms is more confusing then remembering what colors worth what? Maybe some examples (that folks actually use regularly) would sway my opinion.

I do like the idea of having denoms on 4-5 chips & 1-2 chips without for the flexibility so my custom 500 set might be 4 & 1.

Who knows if I add more chips maybe I'll do a non-denom though I'd probably opt for a 25¢ chip first so folks wouldn't feel icky

- Fins

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. Assigning denoms for each game and reminding everyone throughout the game is annoying. I did this for years before I got my Egyptians and it was just part of the game. It takes half the night for most people to remember the colors (including me), and then there's the one guy that NEVER remembers them and everyone else starts to get mad at him. (Even when I make out color coded sheets)

I have already used my set (with dollar signs) to play games with actual face value, 1/10th the value, and 1/100th the value. It's very easy, and no one had a problem. Usually I won't need one or two of the largest or smallest demons, depending on the game. If I'm playing a $5 buyin with the family just for fun, the $5 is a nickel, the $25 is a quarter, etc. With that usage I can have pennies, nickels, quarters, dollars, all the way up to $50 with my plaque.

I will have (soon) all these denoms, which should cover all tourneys AND cash games:

25¢
$1
$5
$25
$100
$500
$1000
$5000

can easily be used as:

1¢
5¢
25¢
$1
$5
$10
$50

No one is confused by having a $ sign instead of a ¢ sign. Much easier than remembering denoms. I agree that having a single chip with no denom is a good idea, and provide infinate possibilites even when the rest of the chips have denoms.

Ten

(late thought: The dollar signs on chips make them seem so much more valuable to me. With no denom or with only numbers, they seem like toys)